AG 2010 05 17 - Laserfiche WebLink

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4. Workers' Compensation Reform -Support legislation to reform North Carolina's Workers' Compensation system to reduce disability findings and open-ended streams of payment, to address the trend in favor of longterm disability findings, to diminish control over these findings on the part of claimants and their legal representatives, and to curtail adoption of rules that limit return-to-work efforts. 5. Rural Transportation Planning Organizations -Support legislation providing continued funding of rural transportation planning organizations (RPOs), enabling increased participation in transportation planning for the state's non-urban areas by local governments. Long-range transportation plans drafted by RPOs or MPOs should be submitted to member boards of county commissioners for review and comment prior to being submitted to the North Carolina Department of Transportation. 6. Second Primary -Seek legislation to eliminate second primary elections. 7. Transfer of Development Rights -Support legislation to allow a county to implement TDRs as another tool to promote good land-use policy. 8. Retired County Commissioner Health Benefits -Support legislation to provide that former county commissioners are eligible to participate in health care benefits provided by county government. Agriculture 1. Fund Agricultural Research and Extension Services -Support legislation to increase funding for Agricultural research and Extension services offered through North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University and to assure that existing research stations are maintained at the current level of service. 2. Support Conservation of Working Lands and Farmland Preservation -Support efforts to promote and conserve working lands, including 1) legislation that includes horticulture, forestry and farmland as part of the state recreation and tourism plan, with emphasis on the protection and support of private working lands; 2) legislation that retains the present use value tax break for working agricultural, horticultural and forestry lands but does not further dilute its status by expanding the tax break to non-agricultural, non-working lands including non-working conservation properties; and 3) legislation to expand funding of the Agricultural Development and Farm Land Preservation Trust Fund and to create a dedicated revenue source to assure continued and stable fund maintenance. Public Education 1. Public School Construction and Community College Funding -Support legislation to provide state assistance to meet public school and community college construction needs caused by increased enrollment, mandated reduction in class size, and other factors through a statewide referendum on a bond issue and/or through authority for counties to raise additional revenues to meet facility needs, and to fund expansion budget requests of the community college system to meet demands resulting from increased enrollment and to train and retrain workers responding to a changing economy. 2. Education Current Expense Funding -Support legislation to assure that the state define and support an adequate basic education in all local school systems and appropriate adequate operating funds to fully fund its education initiatives with revenue that is earmarked to pay the costs of those initiatives. The state should fund programs that continue to engage young people, provide individualized options that eliminate arbitrary barriers and provide students a range of opportunities through which they can gain the credentials, skills and education they need to function in the modern economy of the 21st century. Specifically, the state should: - continue to fully fund the Low Wealth School Fund; and -appropriate funds for school resource officers on the basis of one position allotment for each middle school and high school building for all school systems across the state; -appropriate funds for career technical (vocational) education in high schools. 3. Public School Capital Building Fund -Support legislation to assure that the Public School Capital Building Fund remains intact and to direct the State Treasurer to report on longterm commitments that are dependent on this fund. Counties and schools should not be deprived of these resources as they were deprived of state support for school utility costs in 1991-92. 4. Community College Governance -Support legislation to review the process through which members of the various boards of trustees of the several community colleges are appointed to determine whether the system provides for adequate representation from counties responsible for supporting multi-county campuses. 5. Sales Tax Refunds -Support legislation to allow public schools systems to regain access to sales tax refunds. G-4 Page 147